Advertisers, agencies, and publishers
Sponsored, nofollow, and paid-link compliance
A plain-language guide to link attributes and transparent paid-placement terms for advertisers, agencies, and publishers.
Published and reviewed 5 November 2026 · Educational information, not a ranking guarantee or legal advice
What the link attributes communicate
The sponsored value identifies links that are advertisements or paid placements. Nofollow tells search engines that the publisher does not want to associate its site with, or pass ranking credit through, the linked page. More than one rel value can be used when appropriate.
A regular link without these qualifications is often called dofollow, although dofollow is not an HTML rel value. The correct treatment depends on the relationship and applicable policies, not on which option sounds more valuable.
Google's policy for paid placements
Google classifies buying or selling links for ranking purposes as link spam. It states that advertising and sponsorship links are allowed when they are qualified with rel=sponsored or rel=nofollow, with sponsored preferred for paid placements.
This marketplace records publisher-selected terms so the buyer can see them before checkout. Recording a choice does not replace the responsibility of each party to follow search engine rules and applicable advertising disclosure law.
Questions to settle before ordering
Confirm whether the article or placement is visibly labelled as sponsored, which rel value is applied, where the link appears, what anchor wording is acceptable, and how long the page and link are expected to remain live.
For homepage and sitewide placements, also confirm the template location, mobile visibility, scope, and campaign dates. Repeated paid links need the same transparency as a single article placement.
Build campaigns for people first
Choose publications for audience and subject relevance. Commission useful content, make commercial relationships clear, use accurate claims, and measure referral traffic, brand discovery, engagement, and conversions rather than relying on a promised ranking outcome.
Policies change. Review the current guidance from the relevant search engine and obtain legal advice for advertising rules in the markets where the content appears.